EARLY EASTER 2019

We enjoyed the Kennedy's company for our traditional (early) Easter celebration today!

(Happy colors for Easter smiles and a Buster photobomb!)

Caught on (security) camera!

Happy Early Easter!

GOOD FRIDAY RUN

The kids got stuck at work with us again (school holiday for Good Friday), so we escaped the office at lunch for a little fresh air and 3 miles of trails.

BACK TO SCIENCING!

This has been in my mail room at work for weeks now and it cracks me up :-)

BUILDERS AND CHANGERS

The kids put together new visitor chairs for my office:

Then they had a lesson on changing tires (Jay blew a tire on the way home due to debris on the road from the recent storms):

BUSTED (AGAIN)

Buster flap, flap, flapped his ears too hard again and busted the left one this time (he did this back in 2015 to his right ear). Pillow ear strikes again. We noticed him acting funny on Sunday and realized what had happened on Monday, so we took him in for the expected diagnosis yesterday and picked him up at lunch today after an overnight observation due to the required anesthesia.

Maybe this will be the last time?... Cross your fingers for him (and us)!

DINNER FLOW CHART

At least we have a dinner plan...

(Thanks to Cora, who left this on the counter for me this morning)

TORNADIC SLEEPOVER

Three tornadoes ripped through Vicksburg last night while Cora was at a sleepover. We knew bad weather was predicted though, so we sent her with her helmet for the occasion! Despite multiple hours stuck in the closet, she had a great time! Sarah and I texted each other throughout (not much else to do when you're stuck in the bathroom!), so I always knew they were safe (didn't stop any of us from worrying about the next hit, but at least we had reception to continually check in with each other). One of the tornadoes went right through their new neighborhood, but thankfully not their street (and their house made it through with zero damage, as did ours - none of the tornadoes were down on our south end of town). It took some planning to get her picked up the next day due to so many downed trees and lack of power throughout much of town, but we made it work (and Jay spent the rest of the day out and about with his chainsaw helping friends and coworkers clear their yards, driveways, and streets).

Tornado warning #1

Tornado warning #2 (came through even before the first was cleared)

A short break in storms gave us enough time to check for flooding around the house and gather some of the animals to safety before tornado warning #3 hit

And then all was well and the girls got on with their playdate (and stayed up VERY late, as per usual with them, but did not sleep in much)

S'MORES BY MAMA

My fire didn't last long, but it was long enough to roast some marshmallows!

LAST U10 GIRLS GAME OF SPRING

The two U10 girls teams played their last game against each other tonight and it was amazing!

Cora's favorite part of this spring season was having Cara Beth on her team:

And of course, we celebrated with a big batch of chocolate chip cookies :-)

THE KING

The 4th Grade GATES students held their Mississippi Living History Museum today, so after a month of prep work (research, speech writing and practicing, prop creation, and costume purchasing), I drove a celebrity to school. Meet our little King: Elvis Presley!

(James shared a presentation table with Patrick House, winner of The Biggest Loser in 2010, played by his son Caden, and Thalia Mara, who opened, directed, and instructed at Mississippi's first professional ballet company, played by James' dance friend Mikayla. Also pictured above are some famous football and baseball players from the table next to them who wanted to be included.)

4TH GRADE NATIONAL PARKS PROGRAM

4th Graders receive free National Park passes as a nationwide program to get the kids outdoors and exploring nature (and history!), so Bowmar's classes visited the Vicksburg National Military Park today for a tour and received their passes. We won't have time (or funds) to take a big national park trip this summer (due to other vacations), but when Cora receives her pass next year, we might take a camping road trip and do some exploring!

SCRIMMAGE SOCCER

This is the last week of Rec soccer and the kids had both regular games and makeup games, and we're running out of players due to baseball and softball season (when games or practice overlap between the sports, soccer always loses out), so the teams intermingled to create a couple of teams to scrimmage and I'm pretty sure the kids thought they were the best games of the season!

JACKSON TOURNEY

Both the River Belles and the Intruders played in a Jackson soccer tournament this weekend. The kids both had a lot of play time, James had some great saves and assists, Cora made a lot of goal shots and had one beautiful success, and lots of progress was made on both teams. The girls' second game got stormed out after 15 minutes (and ended in a tie when the refs held off on calling our game even though lightning was all around and all other games were stopping) and the fields were VERY muddy throughout the tournament, but especially on the second day. The boys best game was the one that the girls watched in full from the sidelines, cheering them on (loudly)!

We tried to wait out the storm (because the tourney wasn't called for the day, just paused), but the enormity of the radar finally cancelled all the 4:00 games and postponed the later games until 8:00. We were not sad to head home (though I highly disliked driving in the pouring rain).

Day two:

(This one was my favorite shot of his games - great kick and great save!)

(When your last game is done and sugar is no longer a performance concern, Mama buys you a treat - as long as you share at least a tiny bit!)